An involved city - a journye along farms and food initiatives that connect citizens with the food system

For the Nuffield International Farming Scholarship I was awarded in 2022, I have travelled to over 50 farms and organizations that could tell me more about the relationship between legal structures and governance and the development of an involved community.
All of them were related to the food system and working on connections with citizens. Most of them have forms of shared ownership and have more than one person with decision-making power.
My first and most life changing conclusion was that our food system can be seen as a commons. Changing the perspective from food as a commodity into one where all people can join in production, processing, cooking and distribution of food opens up agriculture for engagement of citizens.
The second result of my peer-to-peer research is that ownership changes everything. Farmland that doesn’t belong to farmer nor citizen opens up a new type of conversation. And shared ownership of food related activities and responsibilities like sustainability gives people options to be involved.
The third main conclusion is that building a community is people’s work. Legal structures and governance help to make things clear and can distribute power more evenly. But building a committed community takes time and effort, in shifting perspectives and creating relationships.
This journey has helped me to turn my vision for a farm with an involved local community into a strategy with much clearer underlying concepts. In the coming pages I will share my insights with you, and I am happy to share more through personal contact.